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Puerto Rico Needs Our Help!


As we sure you are aware, Puerto Rico has been devastated by hurricane Maria. These American citizens, these people, are in dire need of our help. There are 3.4 million people who live in Puerto Rico, many without the food, clean water, fuel, energy, and the communications they need. While Trump attacks the Mayor of San Juan, and continues to shirk his responsibilities to go golfing; we need to step up in his absence.

Here are links to two sites aggregating charities that could use our help. Please follow them and give as much as you can. Let’s show the country, and the world, the better angels of our nature.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/puerto-rica-hurricane-irma-maria_us_59c7f699e4b06ddf45f89c7a

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/world/americas/hurricane-maria-donate-charity.html

You can check any of the charities here if you are at all skeptical:
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=5356

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Stop Trumpcare 3.0

Hey Everybody!

I was hoping I wouldn’t have to be back at this, but it seems the time has come again, this time, probably the last though.

Healthcare is under assault, yet again. Yes, this is exhausting, but we have to muster our strength one last time!

While there are true bipartisan talks going on right now to help fix some of the quirks of the ACA and help stabilize the insurance markets, there is a sinister bill under the working title of “Cassidy-Graham” that seeks to sink any chances for bipartisanship and take healthcare away from so many people.

This is a last ditch effort to pass something under the reconciliation period which ends September 30th. This allows certain legislation to pass with only 51 votes. After this it goes back to the 60 vote necessity. So we only have to get it past this date!

First, here is a good summary of the plan, but it is a little long:
https://www.vox.com/…/16074…/cassidy-graham-obamacare-repeal

I’ve attached an image posted by Andy Slavitt who ran Medicare, Medicaid & ACA for President Obama.

In many ways this is far worse than any of the plans that preceded this. These are all estimates, it still needs to be officially scored by the CBO, but

* 32 million will lose coverage in 10 years.

* Massive cuts to statue funding through 2026 and NO FUNDING after.

* Ends Medicaid expansion

* Waivers allow insurance companies to charge more for pre-exisiting conditions, thus eliminating protections for them.

* Indiana gets federal funding cut by 425 million

* Ends cost sharing for low income Americans

These stood out to me, and I encourage you to read the list from Andy Slavitt and the Vox article.

This is gaining steam, but we can stop it, like we stopped it before. We have shown how much power and strength we have as one voice. All humans deserve healthcare, it should not be reserved for the wealthiest among us or those who had a good roll of the dice.

Please, call your senators, tell them to stop this and support a bipartisan solution. Insist that they stop trying to take away healthcare from so many Americans. We only have to get past September 30th. We can do this!

Thank you.

If you live in Indiana:

Senator Todd Young:
202-224-5623

Senator Joe Donnelly:
202-224-4814

If you live outside Indiana, find your Senators here:
https://www.callmycongress.com/

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Save DACA Rally

Our friends over at Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, Greater Lafayette Immigrant Allies, and Greater Lafayette ACLU put on a great rally to support DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients. We were not the organizers of the event, but many of us attended. There are personal stories that dreamers tell during the rally that everyone should hear.

A little synopsis of what DACA is:
DACA allows certain children of undocumented immigrants to apply to receive consideration of deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal. They are also eligible for work authorization. These allows these individuals the ability to live and work in the United States without fear of deportation during that period. This program does not confer US citizenship status.

For many the US is the only country they have every know. Many started lives and families here. These are our friends, family, and members of the community and we should stand to protect them. We as a country made them a promise. We should uphold that promise. Trump is rumored to be ending the program. He needs to make a decision by September 5th.

Please call your representatives and tell them to defend DACA and codify it into law.

As a bonus GLIA put together a great informational card that is scanned and posted here: